Sunday, June 30, 2013

Basques from Navarre and the other regions paid homage to the fallen in the Battle of Noain, one of the last stands of Navarrese resistance against the Castilian invasion of 1912-21, demanding once again the right to free self-determination.

The 'Concert per la Llibertat' began with a human mosaic (photo) as the Orfeó Catalá (voice chorus) and the Cobla de Cambra de Catalanyua (orchestra) interpreted the national hymn Els Segadors (the reapers). The human mosaic demanded in English Freedom for Catalonia in 2014 (date of a proposed referendum, not accepted by the imperial power, Spain).

A huge array of artists took part in the macro-concert, which was broadcast live by the public Catalan media, was huge, including veteran Catalan singers like Dyango, Peret, María del Mar Bonet or Lluis Llach and also musicians from other countries like the Basques Paco Ibáñez or Fermín Muguruza, the Greek Giannis Papaioannou or the North American Gisele Jackson,

The second half of the even was focused on the politically most inspiring compositions of veteran singer Lluís Llach, who had not been on stage in the last six years. He interpreted himself some of his most popular themes like Venim del Nord, Venim del Sud (we come from the North, we come from the South) or Tossudamente alçats (standing stubbornly), while many other of his songs were sang by various other stars.

The event ended with the song Independencia (independence), perfomed together by the public.

Some 10,000 people demonstrated in Istanbul in solidarity with Kurdistan and repulse of the murder of Medeni Yildirim, killed on Friday by the Army.

The protesters in Istanbul, which hosts a very large Kurdish minority, could not reach the iconic Taksim Square, still heavily guarded by police, but they remained in the nearby streets chanting slogans in Turkish and Kurdish with messages like "police murderers, out of Kurdistan", "this is just the beginning, the struggle continues, the murderer state will pay" and "long live the fraternity of the People".

In Diyarbakir (Northern Kurdistan) the thousands attending to the funeral demanded from the government: "Erdogan behave, don't make us go to the mountains", in reference to the guerrilla camps.

This murder and the injuring of dozens is the worst incident in Northern Kurdistan since the PKK signed a ceasefire with Ankara two months ago.

China deployed many troops including tanks and other armored vehicles in Ürümqi, the capital of Uyghuristan (Xinjiang-Uyghur), annexed to China but ethnically distinct.

Around 19:00 Beijing time, thousands of heavily armed soldiers of the so-called Armed Police of the Pople were deployed in the Central Asian city, occupying the central square. I have never seen anything like that before, declared a local.

The deployment ended an hour and a half later.

It appears to be scare tactics as the 4th anniversary of the Uyghur revolt of 2009 approaches. Recently some 100 activists attacked, armed with knives, a police station in the historical city of Hotan. 35 people were killed, although it is unclear to which side they belonged to.

Four years ago, brutal riots confronted the native Uyghurs with the Han colonists, which make up some 40% of the population, resulting in a death toll of 200, including the victims of police repression.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

At least three people, two Egyptians and one US citizen, have been killed in clashes between Islamists and the wider opposition in Alexandria, in a situation that evidences that the Egyptian Revolution is not yet finished at all, as the reactionary President Morsi has become Mubarak's continuity, bowing to Israel in all and attempting to use the popular revolution to introduce reactionary measures such as legalization of genital mutilation of women (un-islamic but very traditional in many misogynistic societies, especially in Egypt, ~90% of women affected, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia).

The clashes erupted as anti-islamist popular march reached the Islamist AJP's see in Alexandria, the second largest city of Egypt, where a rival concentration of Islamist militants had been organized as well. Two of the victims were killed by fundamentalist thugs apparently using knives as weapons.

A third person, also a secularist protester, was murdered in Port Said, as a bomb exploded as a demonstration passed by.

The protests are just a warm up for those scheduled on Sunday, anniversary of the crowning of Morsi as President of Egypt. 18 22 million signatures have been collected demanding Morsi's resignation, more than the 13 million votes he gathered in the presidential elections a year ago. Egypt has some 85 million inhabitants (incl. c. 35 million minors).

All this: the demonstrations and the signature collection have been organized by Tamarod (Rebellion).

The FNRP marched in large numbers through the streets of the Central American country in repulse of the coup staged four years ago against President Zelaya with obvious support of the USA and the "libertarian" (fascist ultra-capitalist) mafias of The Empire.

The party sponsored by the FNRP, LIBRE, is set to win the announced November elections if there is no vote rigging, followed by the maverick "Anti-Corruption Party" of S. Nasralla. The coup-sponsoring "traditional" parties ("National" and "Liberal") are set to become third and fourth forces respectively.

Three members of LIBRE were shot dead in Juticapa, Olancho, (Silvia Aguiriano, Teresa Matute and an unnamed bodyguard). The attack was blamed on the narco mafia gang of Lucio Rivera by Aguriano's husband.

Denis del Cid Oliva, a trader from Francisco Morazán, was also shot dead earlier in the day.

Early in the day, in San Pedro Sula, a van was found with four corpses inside, apparently all them young people who were tied and put in plastic bags.

A road blockade to protest against the opening of a new Turkish military station at Lice (Diyarbakir province, Northern Kurdistan) was brutally quelled by the Army of the Islamist and Imperialist regime with live fire, killing Salih Bedirxan Medeni Yildirim and injuring at least seven others.

There have been protests in Istanbul in solidarity with the massacred Kurds.

The funeral for the mortal victim has been held today at a Diyarbakir cementery.

A popular assembly has been called in Beksitas for 5pm in order to march to Taksim Square. Similarly the Democratic Congress of the Peoples (HDK) has called for a concentration at 6pm at the Galatasaray Lisesi in protest for the Lice massacre with the intention to march to Taksim Square as well. Taksim Solidarity will also held a demonstration at Taksim Square at 7pm with in homage to Sarisuluk (a worker murdered in Ankara weeks ago), in demand of justice against police and in solidarity with the imprisoned comrades.

Friday, June 28, 2013

It is traditional that the renowned San Fermin fiestas, to begin on July 7th in Iruñea-Pamplona, include banners of political satire made by the popular peñas. This year they are almost monothematic: corruption and looting in Navarre. Example (La Única):

Never so few stole so much!!500 years stealing

Other themes are the demand of public housing and stop to home evictions, the demand of return of Basque prisoners and exiles, the dangers of private hospital "cuisine", rejection to social cuts and overwhelming police repression.

Out of 35 arrested in Ankara, 19 were brought to the special political courts, 19 were sent to preventive prison (Sincan F Type Prison), 5 released on parole and one released without charges for lack of evidence.

Police filmed relatives and friends of the victims of repression, who were not allowed to meet their beloved.

In the early hours of Thursday the Chilean military police (carabineros) proceeded to the eviction of more than 20 schools occupied by its students in protest against the commercialization of education. In most of the centers the students were evicted without further incidents but in some there have been denounces of police brutality.

For example in the girls' school Carmela Carvajal, Providencia, the 16 students were arrested in front of their relatives and have denounced excesses by the police. In the Darío Salas high school students got to the roof and hurled objects against the soldiers that tried to get them down using tear gas.

A tapped conversation between MUD deputy María Corina Machado and a close friend, the historian Germán Carrera Damas, illustrates how leading sectors of the opposition are conspiring with the USA to precipitate a crisis leading to a coup or civil war.

The tape, made public by the ruling party PSUV in TV, shows that Machado feels displaced within the MUD by Secretary General R.G. Aveledo and that there are some serious differences between both about the international and national strategy to follow, including it seems the strategy of de-stablization of Venezuela a so called "coup" or "self-coup". The particulars are not too clear so judge yourselves but my impression is that Aveledo wants to trigger a crisis and promote a coup, while Machado, while very extremist herself, seems more interested in diplomatically isolating Venezuela instead. But it's hard to discern the details. Judge yourselves because I have transcribed all the relevant discussion (essentially a nervous monologue by Machado) below:

Translation:

MCM: I am seeing that of Henrique Capriles, who has taken some firm stands but who when retracted on that Wednesday 17 gave us a horrible signal. If you say that you were robbed the election, then you are elect president, right?

GCD: Right.

MCM: If you are elect president...

GCD: ... either you act as such or you are admitting that yours has been, don't know, a fall a...

MCM: No, and then another thing: the reaction of Guillermo Aveledo to the meeting of Jaua and [US Senator John] Kerry seems to me so terrible. Let's see: which was the answer? "It is marvelous that relations are reestablished because we want Venezuela to have relations with all countries"...

GCD: No, please, not that.

MCM: But didn't you see what he declared?

GCD: I saw it, I saw it, I saw it. I was almost crying. I said: well, this people...

MCM: Also more untimely it could not have been. I feel outrage also because I should have gone earlier to the Department of State, I should... you know? We should have done other things. One has to meet with the key actors, bringing them key information, let the Congress react! So it can be that here it's happening what is happening in Venezuela and the people doesn't know because the Department of State don't think this is severe. Or because it does not have the slightest idea of what to do with Chávez and Chavismo. They are very scared: they fear that I go and meet with the Department of State, with the senators, or with people who may have influence, and set up a radical line, as they describe me: "non-dialogging confrontations" (nervous laugh) "not electoral"...

GCD: Great, right?

MCM: How? Now, I learned that Ramón Guillermo Aveledo has told... Yes, sir, Ramón Guillermo Aveledo has told the Department of State that the only way to exit this is to provoke and deepen a crisis. A coup d'etat or a self-coup because... Or a process of screwing and domestication in which a system of total social control is generated.

GCD: He's putting himself under the shadow of the Empire, isn't he? ... Ramón Guillermo?

MCM: Yes, sir. And not just Ramón Guillermo but the group which surrounds Capriles asked him... Then I tell you, doc, it is very hard. Because I for example went to Washington and Ramón Guillermo goes next week. And he decided to go after a conversation with me because, what's the matter?, he doesn't want me to be in charge of the international area, and he said already at the Board that a requirement, an element... a honor point for him to preserve, for him to be the Secretary General of the MUD is that the coordination of everything international remains in his hands. So he wants both hats, just as you hear it: they want to kick me out!

GCD: But that's disrespectful!

MCM: No, no, disrespectful! And then look: I think that there have been many achievements in these times but you have to acknowledge that these achievements of today are product of the work done before... and that the context changed. I... don't know, yes... surely the context changed. That's what we have, what he says, the things he says. I listened to him and I said... I didn't imagine the meanness and pettiness in a man whom I have respected so much always, didn't I? This...

GCD: Listen: this you're telling me I have got stuck inside.

MCM: It gave me...

GCD: He gave me that impression as well.

MCM: ... there's people who say he's a misogynist, I wish he was misogynist, I wish he was misogynist! But I believe it is worse than that: he has a strategy different to what I represent. He thinks it is dangerous to have me as a free electron, legitimated, saying what I want and also saying that in the name of the Board of Unity. Because we have to raise the political cost to these vagabonds, beginning by the Gringos and following by the Colombians and the Brazilians. Well, those got the record prize, I mean the Nobel, the Oscar.

GCD: But you have to bite your tongue, hear?

MCM: No, I know, but I have so much inside that I am relieving with you. Now, what I do with Ramón Guillermo?

GCD: Dribble him, as they do in football.

MCM: I think I could gain some time but I don't see... I mean: advancing my stuff... but I don't see easy that I could keep a whole parallel structure and that Ramón Guillermo approves it. Because he sees me with... That is... Because he has a huge blackmail capability. Look, doc, one last thing: with the military issue and what we commented of the coup that already happened...

GCD: Yes.

MCM: Do you think that I should insist on that matter?

GCD: I think so.

MCM: I have an email... you, I have to open for you a hotmail. A hotmail is a safe mail, very safe, encrypted. It is very easy to open and there we could send each other safe information.

GCD: Ah, good, I'd like that very much.

MCM: The last thing I want is someone watching me sending that mail.

GCD: Why?

MCM: Because I don't want to appear as if I would be undermining, conspiring against Henrique. I don't want.

GCD: Against what regime?

MCM: Against Henrique Capriles!

GCD: Ah, against Henrique.

MCM: But in any case I am conspiring with you...

GCD: You don't know how good it feels seeing you, doc, truly...

MCM: I see that at least I'm being useful to you to sort up your thoughts (laughs).

The focus has moved now from Sao Paulo and Rio to the interior: in Brasilia and Minas Gerais, where major marches took place. In Belo Horizonte and its suburb of Juatuba some protesters have built fire barricades and cut traffic in several roads.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The decision of the Ankara authorities to set free the policeman who murdered Ethem Sarisuluk with an intentional gunshot has caused that the Confederation of Revolutionary Worker Unions (DISK) called for renewed protests since yesterday.

I have no more information on this as of now.

Source: Webguerrillero[es] (includes video of the murder of Sarisuluk).

The Colombian Army murdered two more farmers today (other two were killed days ago) as they shoot with live fire against the marching crowd marching peacefully towards Ocaña de Santander. Some other 13 at least 30 people were injured.

A speaker of the farmer movement, Jhony Orril, denounced the merciless repression by the armed forces, stating that:

This government does not want peace, they want repression. We denounce and repudiate the military cupola and the government of José Manuel Santos.

Some 100 people demonstrated in Bogotá, before the Ministry of Agriculture, in solidarity with the farmers.

The radical feminist group FEMEN jumped in their usual topless style over the official vehicle of Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh, when he was leaving the European Parliament see at Brussels.

They demand freedom for the four members of their organization repressed by the Islamist government in Tunisia.

The intervention of the fanatic leader's escort has been criticized by the activists as very violent, causing axphysia to one of them identified as Margo (the one being held by the leg in the photo), who lost consciousness and is still suffering headaches and other health problems. FEMEN considers that the life of Margo was put at risk.

Three Tunisian members of FEMEN were arrested by the Islamist regime on the grounds of "offense to morals" and "public disorder" after a topless protest in Tunis in solidarity with also imprisoned feminist Amina Sbui (aka Amina Tyler).

Amina, who was the first Tunisian woman to dare to appear topless in Internet, as a protest against machista oppression is being tried secretly in Kairouan and has already been fined for having a pepper spray (a self-defense weapon which the authorities describe erroneously as "incendiary weapon").

FEMEN also demands the freedom of blogger Jabeur Mejri and all other people repressed by the Islamists in the North African country for using their undeniable right to freedom of expression. They accuse the Islamization policies of threatening women with torture, murder and mutilation (this last rather applies to Egypt).

Laarayedh, who claims to ignore who are FEMEN (oh, c'mon!), admitted that he wants to push ahead the new Islamist constitution through a mere parliamentary vote, because he fears that a referendum would block it. He claims that the European Union supports his plans.

Not everything is alright in Costa Rica anymore, especially since the government began privatizing everything and making outlandish concessions to multinational corporations.

Schools, harbors and health services have been paralyzed in total or partial manner.

In the capital, San José, thousands marched peacefully but shouting out their anger: "We are not sheep", "no more chorizos [thieves]", "death to the sell out by the government", "no to suppression of the right to strike".

There were also large marches in all the other provinces of the small country, as well as road blockades and worker strikes.

In the main port, Limón, workers closed the docks altogether and blocked the only road access to the harbor.

President Chinchilla has made some very unpopular decisions in the last months, selling out the country's wealth and utilities to the private sector, while also falling to many corruption scandals.

One of these highly controversial decisions is the concession to a Dutch company (ATM) of a new harbor in Limón, which would ruin the publicly-owned current one. Another is the preparation of a law that would severely restrict the right of strike. The corruption scandals are so widespread that the opposition talks of "looting the country".

Miners, teachers, dock and healthcare workers have gone on strike today in Chile, along with high school and university students. The demands are focused on free quality education for all, labor rights, dignified jobs and healthcare.

While the leading force in this strike is the Student Confederation (CONFECH), these have been getting closer and closer to labor organizations in the last several years in the course of struggles against privatizations imposed by the neo-Pinochetist President Piñera. This way the General Union of Dock Workers (UNTP), the Teachers' College, the Confederation of Copper Workers (CTC), the Unitary Workers Central (CUT) have joined student organizations in this strike, bringing class struggle in the Andean country one step ahead.

Three marches will converge today at the center of Santiago de Chile, while the popular organizations are working in order to express the anger in multiple ways at each location.

This strike is also a preparation for the General Strike of July 11th.

Among the continuous popular multiethnic resistance to the Apartheid Regime in Palestine (Israel) that goes on every week and every day in many different points of the country and for which you can get weekly information, for example at Ilan Against the Wall, but hardly at all in mainstream media, which clearly censor it, it must be emphasized this week the military repression increase in Qaddom. First person report:

Friday confrontations in Qaddom is escalating in recent weeks in a way
that is beyond any previous "norm". Rampant military invasion of the
village before the demonstration and during it as if possessed. It is
the second week of army thugs occupation the village early morning
entering long before the demonstration starts and makes havocs. Shoots
in all directions into the houses, the mosque and the village center.
Then returns to its camps or like today just lurk near by waiting to the
demonstration to start just after the service.
In today demo marched more than two hundred fifty Palestinians, five
Israelis and a similar number of international supporters. Even before
we reached it the entrance from Khaja was already blocked with
barricades set by the Shabab as precaution from of attack by the army
from this direction as it did a few weeks ago (after its morning "visit"
in the village.
The army entered the village and fired from two centers in the front of
the village but much deeper than the position of the blocked road and
the left side of the hill. They shot a plenty of a strengthed quantity
gas - so terrible that a few people suffocated from gas inhalation.
During the demonstration, they arrested two Palestinian television media
man. Suddenly, in the middle of the demonstration they began shooting a
massive barrage of "rubber bullets" (do not forget these are really
steel bullets coated with rubber).
From this "toy" of theirs four Palestinians were wounded: one injured in
his finger nearly completely severed it - he was rushed to the hospital
to save the finger; another was injured in his arm and stomach; another
was wounded in the chest; and another "only" in the leg.
Then the army entered again the center of the village and covered it
with a cloud of gas - literally nowhere to escape. It was so intense and
without any restraint.
So much so that even though I'm a Jewish female they invited me to find refuge in the mosque...

Also Bedouin homes demolitions continue in Al Akrib. Notice that Bedouins are legally "Israeli citizens" but that does not matter at all for the Apartheid Regime.

At Bil'in the regular anti-wall protest was this week more quiet than past ones, as apparently the soldiers were not in the lazy mood, it seems, permitting the protesters even to march through the "no man's land" only shooting some gas canisters when they reached the wall gate itself.

In the Jerusalem checkpoint of Beit Jala, a group of people demanded to be allowed to cross in order to pray in Al Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites of Islam. Soldiers blocked them and a prayer was held at the site of the checkpoint.

In Tel Aviv there were road blockades against privatizations and export of natural gas. A scratching action was held also against the Minister of the Treasury and bankster Ben Dov.

However the low level of interethnic solidarity showed up at Yafa, where a protest against Jewish gentrification of the largely Native city failed to get any support of the so-called J14 movement (a pathetic Judeocentric copycat youth movement). These however did hold a protest in Jerusalem against gas privatization.

the people’s assembly: the fight-back begins?

24062013

The gathering of over 4,000 people at the People’s Assembly Against Austerity in London on Saturday 22nd
June was truly inspirational. To be together with so many who regard
profit as a dirty word & who want a world based upon more humane
values, such as equality, solidarity & dignity, it’s hard not to
believe that there will be a fight-back. But as useful as it is to raise
spirits, John Keeley attempts a more objective analysis of what the People’s Assembly potentially offers.

Will the People’s Assembly stop austerity? To do this it would need
to bring down the Con-Dem coalition & reclaim the Labour Party as a
party fighting for the class interest of the workers. The first part is
relatively easy compared to the second. Indeed, the fact that Labour
haven’t stood up for the workers is the main reason why the coalition
has had a relatively easy time of it to date. Although there are still
many good people in Labour, the leadership & the vast majority of
MP’s care first & foremost about their careers. They want power
& from their rationale this means not upsetting corporate interests.
Hence on the same day as the People’s Assembly, Miliband gives a speech
saying he won’t reverse the cuts. How much more evidence do you need of
the pro-business nature of the Labour Party?

Labour is lost in history. Just as capitalism faces potential
collapse & the case for socialism needs to be made more than ever,
Labour are found missing. Labour only offer a vision of revitalised
capitalism providing tax revenue for public-private initiatives
financing public-private provided services. The promise of better
healthcare & education funded by a buoyant capitalism that somehow
produces ‘social entrepreneurs’ who have a social conscious, once of
course they have made their millions. It’s the ideology of liberals who
want to be remembered as ‘good individuals’. Blair, Brown, Miliband,
they are all the same.

So can Labour be reclaimed? An optimistic scenario would have the
People’s Assembly amassing support from a large section of the
population & scoring victories over the coalition so that it falls
& the new Labour government, in their gratitude to the unions,
giving them a bit of say & launching a Keynesian fiscal stimulus –
more investment, more jobs, more union members. A new boom then boosts
the coffers in the Treasury enabling a confident, more self-assured
Labour to renationalise the railways & the public utilities, as well
as investing in the NHS & a fully state-controlled comprehensive
education system. A return to the hope of 1945 & the parliamentary
road to socialism.

Rather than optimistic, this is delusional. Only those who have no
understanding of the nature of capitalism today can entertain such a
possibility. Unfortunately, that’s the vast majority in the unions &
the Labour Party. The problem is the confusion between the vast wealth
created by capitalism & the fact that capitalism only produces for a
profit. On top of that is the nature of debt & how it artificially
supports profit rates. These are not easy subjects. This is why it is
essential for those of us who have studied capitalism & the nature
of its crises to engage with the leaders of the People’s Assembly to
show them that social democracy – capitalism with a strong welfare state
– is not a realistic possibility.

There is no Keynesian solution. Capitalism cannot be reformed.
For there to be true democracy where the people are both legislature
& executive, requires not just the common, social ownership of the
means of production, but a whole new approach to politics. It requires
embracing participatory forms of organising – something that is
happening increasingly. Political parties & parliament are not
democracy. New institutions, such as local Peoples’ Assemblies, are
required to enable equality in decision-making. An alternative to
austerity necessitates an alternative system. A new mode of production
& a new form of politics. Can the People’s Assembly rise to this
historical challenge?

A very large antifascist demonstration marched yesterday through Paris in memory of assassinated Anarchist, antifascist and gay-rights activist Clément Méric, who was murdered weeks ago by a Nazi gang.

The demonstration, which began at the Place de l'Opéra, was participated by antifascist groups, anti-globalization groups, anarchist organizations, labor unions, the Left Party, the Anticapitalist Party, SOS Racism and ATTAC.

There were some violent incidents in the aftermath, with attacks against shops and banks. Police intervened resulting in 14 people arrested.

The notoriously homophobic mayor of Arrangoitze (Northern Basque Country), Jean-Michel Colo (UPM), was warned by the French authorities of dire consequences if he did not abide by the law marrying a local gay couple, as he must (or alternatively a lieutenant-mayor can as well).

While the meeting of the mayor with the sub-prefect of Baiona took place, opposing groups of demonstrators concentrated nearby, almost clashing. Police intervened arresting one of the equal rights demonstrators (as usual the fascists have impunity).

After the meeting finished the fascist mayor declared his intention to continue with his unilateral homophobic attitude. He has a week to comply.

Josep U., 21 was stabbed by a group of Nazis inside of the Working Class Center (Ateneu) of Igualada (pictured).

The attack happened in the late part of a concert, when a DJ played the song Això no és Espanya (This is not Spain) of Francesc Ribera. Then a small group of 4-5 young men and women began singing Que viva España (Long Live to Spain) of Manolo Escobar, a singer of the Fascist era, one of them showing a pocket knife in threatening manner against the members of the band Ressaka Ska (who had played before).

Initially the threat was not addressed and the fascist gang remained in the building. But later one of the Nazis threatened to injure with the knife a boy aged 16, moment when the Josep intervened, getting the stab in the stomach instead. The criminals then run away.

I must say that I am quite surprised that not a modicum of security was thought of by the organizers of the event. A small group of people with sticks should have been enough to send the Nazis away or even beat them badly (I wouldn't complain certainly) preventing innocent victims.

The lesson is clear: the Nazis are here, they are very aggressive and usually enjoy a great deal of impunity, be ready! Zero, absolutely zero, tolerance against Fascism!

That is what Al Jazeera reports based on a WHO report. The figure of ~37% is similar across Asia and Africa, being somewhat lower but still very worrisome in the First World (~23%).

Domestic violence leaves a dramatic legacy in survivors and children alike:

Women with a violent partner were twice as likely to suffer from
depression and develop an alcohol problem, compared to women who did not
experience abuse.

Victims of violence were also found to be far more likely to contract
a range of sexually-transmitted diseases, from syphilis to HIV.

The study also flagged the higher likelihood of abused women having
an unwanted pregnancy, an abortion, or an underweight baby - and their
children were more likely to become abusers or victims in adulthood.

In the USA a major issue is that victims of domestic violence can be fired for their aggressors' behavior. Only six states have laws against it and real cases of such workplace repercussions of domestic violence are not uncommon at all (~70% of sexist violence victims are harassed or attacked at work by their "partners", being murder at their aggressor's hands a major cause of death in the workplace among women, and many of them have lost their jobs as result of their aggressor's violence spilling into the victim's job) → TP.

Monday, June 24, 2013

The most notable feature of metropolitan elections in Tokyo was the outstanding level of abstention, reaching 56.5%, 11 percentile points above the last elections.

The conservative Liberal Democratic Party - New Komei Party coalition (in power at state level) won 82 seats, followed by the Communist Party, with 17 seats (previously it had 8). The former second party, the Democratic Party, shrank to a mere 15 seats, with 13 seats going to minor forces.

The winning coalition therefore gathers quite less than 30% of the popular support: a clear legitimacy issue, even considering the weakness of the opposition.

With 13 million inhabitants, Tokyo holds more than 10% of the Japanese population.

Fukushima Emergency what can we do?publishes today a revealing and scary first person account (interview with a Fukushima Daichi worker) of how the emergency is being totally mismanaged by capitalist forces more interested in hiding the problems than actually solving (or at least patching them).

Some excerpts:

... a
lot of facilities were built in a rush. After the accident, facilities
were being built in such a speedy fashion that it did not matter if they
had to last for only one year or so.

...

... “cutting the budget, reducing the cost, and
using lower price materials” for constructions and facilities in the
management of the nuclear power plant accident is the order of the day.

...

... It is stinginess not only with money but with time, too. Orders such as “It is the fiscal year-end. So hurry up and complete the construction work!” are common. Sometime you hear things such as “It is the fiscal year-end, there is no more funding available”. Why should the “fiscal year-end” take priority over any other matter in an unsettled situation of a Level 7 nuclear disaster?

...

... It is getting really difficult to secure
manpower for the accident management. ...

...

Original workers at the Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant are more and more exceeding their dose limit of
radiation exposure. The workers from other nuclear power plants are
returning to their former plants. Workers who come to Fukushima from other parts of the country to make money are decreasing and difficult to recruit.

...

... No long-term plan
for the decommissioning of the plant is put into execution. What is
being done is rather the execution of a haphazard plan just to hoodwink
the public attention. Issues out of the public eye are just left out.

...

... the problem of the underground water storage
tank is trivial, because the mother of all problems is neither the
radioactive pollution nor the cooling system, but the nuclear reactor
buildings and reactors themselves. How are reactors #1 to #4 going to be
demolished and disposed of? The current situation is that nobody can
even get inside. ...

...

About reactor #2, nobody knows exactly what is
going on inside or what happened just after the earthquake. The
explosion of reactors #1 and #3 could be simulated to a certain degree.
From various parameters, we could predict the initial response and what
was going to happen next.

But we are clueless about reactor #2. Why was such large amount of
radioactive substances emitted without explosion? What is happening with
the fuel rods? ...

...

... Let’s assume that the situation
worsens to the point that it becomes impossible to pour water in order
to cool off the reactor. For reactors #1, #3 and #4, a specialized squad prepared to bear the risks of radiation exposure can always enter the building and do the work required.
But in the case of reactor #2, radioactive emissions inside most
buildings are extremely high that a prepared squad is likely to perish
before it accomplishes its mission.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

In Madrid, as well as in other Castilian, Aragonese and Canarian cities, the White Tide brought many thousands to the streets, demonstrating once again the extreme unpopularity of the anti-social measures of the reactionary Rajoy government.

There has been applause for the charges brought against the whole leadership of Madrid's regional Health Department.

An attempt of Fascist groups to infiltrate the demonstration of Madrid was successfully avoided, as the crowds kicked them out without hesitation (→ video).

For the third time in few months Nazis attacked with impunity the a young activist, 22. The two masked attackers brutally beat and stabbed the victim, who was for 30 minutes laying on the ground unconscious.

The same person was already subject to a Nazi persecution weeks ago, although in that occasion he managed to flee. It is believed that the attackers are the same people because they told him: did you think you could get away, fucking red?

The increase in fascist attacks in Valladolid is directly related to the opening, some months ago, of an office of the Nazi party Democracia Nacional, located in Peña de Francia street.

Neighborhoods Against Racism has declared that they won't tolerate the Nazis anymore.

It is clear that tolerance to Fascism must always be exactly zero, otherwise...

Two people were killed by the violent repression of the Colombian Army against farmer protests in the district of Catatumbo (Norte de Santander). The soldiers shoot with real fire against some 7000 farmers in Ocaña and Tibú, when these attempted to take the local airport as part of their protest.

The victims are Leonel Jácome and Edilson Jaimes, whose injuries were caused by live fire. There are also many arrested, eight injured and one severely intoxicated by the inhalation of tear gas.

The Catatumbo farmers have been protesting for the last seven days in demand of the declaration of their district as Agricultural Reservation Zone and a plan to gradually replace drug cultivation by sustainable crops.

The ultra-reactionary President of Colombia, José Manuel Santos (a posh born in an oligarchic family) claimed with absolutely no evidence that the protests were "infiltrated" by the guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), what has been interpreted as an invitation to have the farmers massacred.

The Machiavellic leader of all Islamist Fascist groups, the Theocratic Dictator of Saudi Arabia, has asked formally, albeit secretly, to the Genocide and Apartheid Regime in Palestine (Israel) to attack Syria, according to Al Manar (reflected by Webguerrillero[es]).

In the secret diplomatic note the Saudi Theocrats would have asked Israel to keep sending weapons to the Islamist Fascist terrorist groups in Syria, where they seem to be losing the war by moments. Almost simultaneously, a conference of Islamist Theocracies, so-called "Friends of Syria", met in Qatar (whose "illustrated" dictator owns Al Jazeera), where they issued a communication emphasizing the urgency of sending weapons to the Islamist terrorist in Syria, while babbling about the need of a "political solution".

Some 10,000 Navarrese citizens marched this Saturday through Iruñea-Pamplona to demand the resignation of the beleaguered corrupt President Yolanda Barcina (UPN, unionist right) so she can be tried in Navarre (and not in Spain).

Barcina resists in her role of President of the Chartered Government thanks to the "passive" support of the other large unionist party PSOE. Polls predict that the twin-party system that has ruled the Old Kingdom for decades will completely lose control of the Navarrese Parliament, and therefore the Government, as soon as elections are held, but these are not scheduled to happen until 2015 (however they can be called in advance, something the Navarrese People clearly demands).

People at the march chanted slogans like "Thieves out of our institutions", "UPN out", "There is solution: Barcina resignation and bankers to jail", "Out Enrique Maya" (mayor of Pamplona), "One, two, three, four, let them give back what they stole" and also "this is Ali Baba's cave", while in front of the UPN see.

Istanbul, one of the largest cities of Europe... and Asia. It ranks only second in Europe (after Moscow) and is the first of West Asia, a position disputed with Teheran. It hosts some 14 million inhabitants, 18% of all people with Turkish documents, almost as many as the Netherlands.

Yesterday the citizens marched again to Taksim Square by the many thousands, wearing red carnations. Police kept them at bay with difficulty and lots of gas and water cannons.

In the last days police was behaving in a more tolerant way and people
could use Taksim to pay homage to the victims of repression (photo below). But
the street battles are back.

After being expelled by police, people gathered in huge numbers in Istiklal and Siraselviler streets, not far away (photo below).

At least 31 demonstrators have been sentenced to preventive prison by especial ad-hoc tribunals in Istanbul and Ankara in this journey alone.

Along with this march, yesterday alone there were 35 popular assemblies in most of the districts (each one a medium sized city on its own right) of the transcontinental megalopolis. At least three thousand gathered in Kadikoy alone (photo below), who proclaimed inclusion for all: women, religious and ethnic groups, homosexuals... while a consensus of sorts grew in favor of socio-economic boycott to the banks, multinational companies and commercial centers as form of struggle.

At least 100,000 Italians marched today through Rome in demand of jobs and tax equity. The march, called by the unions, was even backed, somewhat hypocritically by one of the two parties which support the coalition government, the Democratic Party. Of course this is nothing but posing for a photo but still the march clearly indicates that the anger in Italy against the Capitalist socio-economic chaos is growing at the same time as unemployment grows.

Guillermo "Willy" Toledo has won several prizes but he is best known maybe for his compromise with popular struggles in Spain and abroad alike, as well as his blunt honesty. Recently he announced he is moving to Cuba because he feels the need to be in direct contact with the lively dynamics of Latin America. Digital Newspaper Webguerrillero reproduces today an interview[es] with him, of which I translate some small fragments:

They have always told me: "if you like Cuba so much, why don't you move there". Well, I am already in Cuba... I imagine now the chief editors and the lackeys of their masters in the newspapers' redactions squeezing their brains to see how they could discredit me and all they could muster was that one: to publish a photo of a mansion with butlers, chaffeur and swimming pool... and all the fantasized privileges that the Cuban state gives those who defend it... well, it is radical and absolutely false. ...I am aware that I have been vetoed [in Spain, because of his compromise with Cuba] for various jobs in TV and cinema. What dimension does this have? I can't say because, excepting all these cases that I know for sure, I will never get to know if they said: "don't give this job to Willy Toledo". I am persuaded that this happens, exactly the same that there are dozens or even hundreds of political prisoners in my country just for expressing their opinions, just for being activists of the Left, of the Revolutionary Left especially, be it in the Basque Country, in Madrid, in Andalusia, in Catalonia wherever... Recently some Catalan Anarchists were arrested just for expressing their opinions in Facebook; that is the democratic state we live in. I am, I have always been very conscious of the consequences that being active in the Left, or the "extreme left" as they say, may carry. ... I keep an eye in Spain and when they need me I will be back there. When everything explodes, because it will explode, there will be a social uprising and there will be a true frontal opposition in the streets against the criminal government ruling in the Spanish state, I will be the first one to join. ... would not I be a well-known actor I would probably be in jail right now, in prison in Spain; that is the sensation I have, they have tried it a couple of times but I think they calculated that having me in prison is not in their interest... by the moment, because there are many young men and women in jail who never had the media repercussion that there was the two times I was arrested.

Note: he was arrested once at a protest in the Spanish Congress in solidarity against the Moroccan massacre of the Peace and Dignity Camp of Gdeim Izik, West Sahara. Then he was also arrested when participating in a General Strike picket, suffering, as many others, false accusations.

In the case of the General Strike many comrades who were arrested that very same night were kept prisoners for months in the jails of the Spanish state where - according to the European Union, the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and local anti-torture groups - still today, in the year 2013, prisoners are brutally tortured in police stations and prisons, something that never happened in Cuba.

A young Muslim woman, 21, was attacked in Argenetiul, Paris, by two Nazi men. The attackers tried to remove her hijab, cut parts of her hair and removed part of her clothes. When she protested that she was pregnant, they beat her womb so badly that the fetus died.

Another woman suffered a similarly coward and racist attack in the Paris region three weeks ago.

The extremely serious situation at Hanford (Washington state) is gradually being acknowledged by the media and some authorities. The obsolete containers in which a complex corrosive chemical mixture whose core are radioactive residues has broken all barriers in at least one tank. Liquid measuring not less than 800,000 cpm is out of the tanks and the managers do not even know exactly where it happened.

The leak seems to be still contained (outside the tank) and, according to officers, it has not yet reached the nearby Columbia River, not being too much of an immediate threat to the public outside the site, but it does show how extremely precarious and rapidly degenerating is the situation at what CNN describes as "worst contaminated nuclear site" of America.

The Brazilian mass protests have served as example for the Paraguayan People, who have even more reasons to take over the streets, as the regime is pretty much illegitimate after the "legal coup" against President Lugo exactly a year ago.

Thousands concentrated in the Plaza de Armas of Asunción just meters away from the putschist Parliament crying against the "luxury retirement" of MPs, who keep 60% of their salary after 10 years of service and 90% after 15, as well as in demand of decent public services.

Some protesters attempted to reach Parliament, being arrested on the spot.

The protests were called through the social networks by #PorUnParaguayMejor (for a better Paraguay).

Saturday, June 22, 2013

The Passe Livre (Free Pass) movement of Sao Paulo, a small grassroots organization of some 40-50 people who initiated the massive protests in Brazil, has decided to call off demonstrations in Sao Paulo after fascist provokers were spotted in the demos, harassing and attacking left-wing activists and causing widespread outrage.

Lucas Monteiro, speaker of the movement, declared to Terra Magazine that they will not call more marches in the largest city of Brazil by the moment, although they will continue to work towards the zero tariff.

This does not necessarily apply to other states and cities, where the MPL cells are autonomous.

Some 8000 farmers marched in Ye (Catatumbo district, Norte de Santander) being violently repressed by the Army. Some 10 citizens were severely injured by the soldiers' violence.

Farmers state that they will not stop their protest until the reactionary government of President Santos listens to them. They demand the establishment of a Farmer Reservation Zone in the area and the gradual replacement of illegal crops by sustainable ones.

Preliminary negotiations were broken when Farmer representatives walked out in protest for the presence of Major Rodolfo Palomino, General Director of Police.

Masked men with cameras, who emerged from the military lines, intimidated and harassed journalists when covering the conflict.

Only some 23% of US citizens trust their media, according to a recent poll by Gallup.

Among non-elderly age segments the trust is even lower: only 20% trust TV news among those under 65 (same for all age segments in this group), while the elderly trust TV only at levels of 30%. Similarly the less educated segments are somewhat more credulous (28% trust TV news) than the more educated ones (14-15%).

While the average of trust is similarly low towards TV and newspapers (23%), the structure of trust towards the written media is more complicated along age and education segments.

While Gallup claims that the trend has "worsened" since 2007, in fact the distrust trend began around 2001, remaining somewhat stable since 2007, when it reached its lowest value: 22%, just barely below the current one.